Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Academic Practice Accelerator · 2026-10-20
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Smoking can cause serious illnesses and should be made illegal.
To what extent do you agree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
smoking is injurios to health, while growing up this was the sentence i used to see on tv channels and read that on boards, also in quid shops. There is a very big evidence of smoking leading to cancer and yet no one thinks its true. smoking of any kind is so common in our society and also glorified as well that young boys think it is so cool to smoke and they start just because of tat and gets addicted. In my opinion smoking should be illegal but not just by law but by actions as well, government has to take steps on its promotion which is something media industry does for free which is so misleading and harmful for public.Here atleast smoking should be banned in public spaces like parks,malls,cafes because it is so inconvenient for everyone to haev a smoker around them making thier air polluted as well , yes passive smoking is a very big issue which is not even considered how difficult it would be for a person who has allergic asthma , people who doesnt like smoke and elderly people.As a medical student when i laerned about consequences of smoking and encountered smokers I wa so shocked that the people does know it is injurious to thier health and people around them yet they still smoke because they dont take it seriously. the worst experience for me with a smoker was i was at a cafe with my friend and we were chilling then right next our table there was a smoker continiously smoking ciggarettes we asked the manager but the manager said smoking is allowed here and there is no other table available to change his or ours and as my friend had allergic asthma we haveto go from there. one thing i also want to mention is the most alarming thing for parents is continuos introduction of new smoking devices like vape and e ciggarettes and smokers think they are safe to use but in reality vaping is more dangerous and every form of smoking or any other item which is harmful for public health should be illagalized as soon as possible and strict actions should be taken for better and bright future of young generation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0
Your position is clear: you agree that smoking should be illegal, and you address both its health effects and the need for government action. The discussion of passive smoking, including the café incident involving your friend’s asthma, gives a relevant example that supports your view. You also raise promotion and newer products such as vapes, so the response covers several aspects of the issue. To strengthen the argument further, develop the case for making smoking illegal itself, rather than focusing mainly on restrictions in public places and controls on promotion. Some claims, such as vaping being “more dangerous,” are presented broadly; qualify or support them to make the reasoning more convincing and precise.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5
The response contains a recognisable progression from the health risks of smoking to passive smoking, personal experience, and concerns about vaping. However, it is presented as one long paragraph, so the reader has little visual guidance through these distinct points. Ideas are often joined by repeated “and,” “also,” and “because,” while transitions between the general argument and the café anecdote are abrupt. The final sentence combines several claims and recommendations, making the conclusion difficult to follow. Divide the response into clear paragraphs—for example, position and health effects, public exposure and the example, then regulation and conclusion—and use more precise links to show how each point supports your position.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “passive smoking,” “allergic asthma,” “public spaces,” and “promotion,” which helps communicate the main concerns. There are also attempts at more specific expressions such as “introduction of new smoking devices.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or informal choices are frequent enough to reduce fluency: examples include “injurios,” “ciggarettes,” “illagalized,” “so cool,” and “chilling.” Some phrasing is awkward, such as “a very big evidence” and “making their air polluted.” Aim for accurate spelling and more natural collocations, and choose a formal register consistently. This will make your vocabulary more precise without changing the relevant ideas you already express.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt to express complex relationships, particularly when explaining how smoking affects other people and recounting the café incident. However, many sentences are run-ons, and sentence boundaries and punctuation are often missing, as in the opening and the long sentence beginning “Here atleast smoking should be banned.” There are also frequent errors in agreement and verb forms, such as “people who doesnt like smoke” and “the people does know,” as well as missing or incorrect articles and pronouns. These patterns sometimes make the reader work to identify how clauses relate. Practise separating ideas into complete sentences, then check subject–verb agreement, articles, and consistent sentence structure. Greater control of these basics would make your complex ideas easier to understand.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.